Mr Hutley claimed this was so because Mr Ipp had volunteered advice to NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s department in January about whether the government could take into account the public interest in considering whether to approve any application by Cascade Coal for a mine over land owned by the Obeids.

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This advice, which did not presuppose any findings of corruption, was only made public after Mr O’Farrell formally requested it in a letter that was read by Mr Ipp during the inquiry.

The ICAC’s barrister, Bret Walker, SC, argued in the Supreme Court that the commissioner was empowered to give that advice under the laws which created the corruption watchdog.

Mr Hale argued on Thursday that Mr Ipp should disqualify himself from the inquiry for the same reasons advanced by Mr Duncan’s lawyers in court.

He said the same arguments of apprehended bias applied in Operation Acacia, a separate inquiry into the circumstances in which Mr Macdonald gave a $100 million coal exploration licence to a company chaired by former union boss John Maitland.

Public hearings in that inquiry started on March 18 and are expected to run until late April.